AYODHYA, like an anxious orator, talks in its sleep. After 10 in the night, the town plunges into deep silence. The shopkeepers, hawkers, and devotees have retired for the night; the loudspeakers, pouring out devotional songs, are quiet. But on the main revamped road, the Ram Janmabhoomi Path, the shops' shutters are wide awake. Wearing a fresh coat of black paint, they display diverse saffron signages: two arrows, a bow, a mace-turned trident, a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) flag, a crown-wearing Hanuman, and a phrase that showers, sweeps, and cleanses the town, mutating into a greeting, a clarion call, a bhajan, an identity: "Jai Shree Ram".
Two weeks before the Ram temple's consecration, Ayodhya resembles an event management firm rushing through last-minute preparations-or a mythological film set under construction. Near its roads, buildings and temples spread soil, sand and stones. JCB machines rumble; cranes and forklifts saunter; construction workers plaster, paint, hammer. Over the last one-and-a-half years, the town has changed so much that several natives say, "It feels like we can't recognise our own home."
Denne historien er fra February 01, 2024-utgaven av Outlook.
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Denne historien er fra February 01, 2024-utgaven av Outlook.
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